DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS: Family Anatidae [137] 



go south. There need be no confusion if the following distinctions are 

 kept in mind: In the Pintail, the color patch on the wing, or speculum, 

 is a bright green, whereas in the Gadwall it is snow white. The only 

 other species of duck with a white speculum commonly found in Oregon 

 is the Baldpate, or Widgeon, which might be confused with the Gadwall 

 on this account. Both birds are about the same size and have about the 

 same habits of flight, but the male Baldpate has a white crown and 

 greenish sides to the head and fine speckling and dotting of the plumage. 

 It is also more reddish on the back and lacks the beautiful gray and white 

 pattern found on the neck and breast of the Gadwall. 



Like the Common Mallard, the Gadwall is a lover of the shallows, 

 where it also feeds by the tipping-up process, during which the heavy 

 bill is vigorously engaged in sifting edible morsels from the debris on the 

 bottom and gathering succulent bulblets or roots of water plants. These 

 bottom-feeding ducks are all equipped with strainers on the side of the 

 bill through which the mud of the bottom may be forced out and in 

 which the seeds, bulblets, and other vegetable matter on which they feed 

 may be retained. Foliage of many kinds of aquatic plants, small snails, 

 seeds of many kinds, grain, acorns, and other vegetable matter make up 

 their food supply. Numerous stomachs taken in Oregon and examined 

 by the Biological Survey reveal a great preponderance of leaves, stems, 

 and seeds of aquatic plants, such as pondweeds (J?otamogeton), parrot- 

 feathers (Myrio-phyllum)., sedges, and smaller plants. 



European Widgeon: 



Mareca penelope (Linnaeus) 



DESCRIPTION. "Adult male: Bill blue with black tip; crown white or creamy; rest 

 of head and neck rich russet brown, more or less specked with black; chest light 

 vinaceous brown; back, rump, and sides gray crossed by fine wavy black and white 

 lines; wing with green speculum framed in black, and bordered above by large white 

 patch; under, and sides of upper, tail coverts, black. Adult female: head and neck 

 thickly specked all over with dusky on buff; breast, sides, and back mottled with 

 dusky and buff; speculum grayish, bordered above and below by narrow white tips 

 to feathers. Young male: head and neck brown, thickly specked with black; breast 

 and sides dull brown, back mottled dusky and brown. Length: 18-2.0, wing 10-11, 

 bill 1.35-1.45." (Bailey) 



DISTRIBUTION. Breeds entirely in Old World and appears on this continent only as 

 irregular straggler. 



THE EUROPEAN WIDGEON is a straggler in Oregon, as it is in other parts 

 of North America. There are a number of records of it for the State. One, 

 taken in Lane County, December 17, 192.6, was seen by Jewett in a taxi- 

 dermist's shop in Eugene. Three were obtained in Multnomah County: 

 one on Government Island, January 18, 1903, and two on Sauvies Island 

 December X2_, 1918, and December 12., 19x6. Alex Walker (1913) reported 



